Satellite radio is an emerging technology that is in the early stages of gaining consumer acceptance. Major electronics manufacturers such as Pioneer, Alpine, Clarion, Delphi, Sony, and Kenwood and automobile companies, such as General Motors and Ford, are partnering with satellite radio providers to bring satellite radio to the consumer. Satellite radio enables users to subscribe to a service by which high quality audio channels, free of the interference often accompanying traditional radio frequency (RF) broadcast systems, is available via satellite transmission. In addition, in vehicular use, satellite radio enables a vehicle equipped with the appropriate receiving equipment to hear the same channel regardless of the vehicle location, i.e., a vehicle could travel from New York to Los Angeles without losing the signal of a particular channel to which the receiving equipment is tuned.
Typically a satellite radio service provider utilizes at least two satellites, although a single satellite or more than two satellites may be used, depending upon the amount of coverage area desired. Additionally, the satellite radio provider may utilize terrestrial repeaters to improve broadcast coverage in areas of satellite signal blockage. The service provider selects content for each of the channels it broadcasts and combines them into one or more signals for transmission to the satellites and terrestrial repeaters, which retransmit the signals where they can be received by radio receivers possessed by subscribers. The signal can contain hundreds of channels, the actual number depending on the particular system bandwidth and channel compression and encoding parameters. The radio receivers are programmed to receive the signals and unscramble them so that the listener who has tuned to a particular channel can enjoy the content. Other information can be included in the broadcast signal. For example, information regarding the artist and title of a particular song being played can also be provided within the digital stream on the channel the user has tuned to, or through a shared service channel.
There are essentially two companies providing digital audio signals via satellite radio. XM Satellite Radio, based in Washington, D.C., transmits multiple channels of music, news, talk, sports, and children's programming. Sirius Satellite Radio, based in New York City, transmits a similar line-up of programming, but with fewer commercial channels than XM. Both companies have a business model that assumes a subscriber's willingness to pay for mostly commercial-free, high-quality, high availability services. However, it is believed that there is a segment of the population that find the commercial-free subscriber fee to be too high and would be willing to live with satellite service containing significantly more advertisements for a less expensive subscriber fee. It is likely that a service provider would welcome obtaining this market segment as long as it did not cut into the profits obtained from the commercial-free subscribers. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system and method for introducing advertisements in a satellite radio system that can be selectively enabled at the receiver, depending upon the particular tier of service to which the subscriber is subscribed.